Genesis 47:29 says, "And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh." This matter of having Joseph place his hand under Jacob's thigh has been a problem to many Bible students. Jacob did not say to Joseph, "Do your best to get a physician to heal me." Rather, he asked him to place his hand under his thigh. What is the significance of this? No doubt, it means to swear. But why did Jacob not have Joseph raise his hand if the significance of this act were only that of taking an oath? Instead of guessing, we should understand the Bible according to the facts contained in it. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can trace what happened to Jacob's thigh during his lifetime. On the eighth day after he was born, Jacob was circumcised in a part of his body close to his thigh. Then after Jacob had been striving for more than ninety-five years, God came in to touch his thigh. Thus, Jacob experienced both circumcision and a divine touch. First, something was cut off from a place very close to his thigh. That was circumcision. Years later, Jacob experienced a divine touch that caused him to walk with a limp. If you look deeply into the significance of these two things, you will see that both have the same meaning. To be circumcised is to have our flesh, our natural life, cut off. Jacob had been chosen to inherit God's covenant. But his flesh, his natural life, was not useful for this. Rather, it was a hindrance.
Consider the case of Abraham. God's covenant was made with Abraham in Genesis 15. Abraham, however, used his natural strength with Hagar to fulfill God's promise. God was offended by this and stayed away from Abraham for thirteen years. Thirteen years later, God came back to Abraham and seemed to say, "Abraham, I am the all-sufficient One. I will keep My promise. Because I have promised to do something for you, I don't need you to use your natural strength to fulfill what I have promised. What you did with Hagar greatly offended Me. For that reason, I have stayed away from you for these thirteen years. Now I have come to tell you that in My presence you must cut off your natural strength." From that day onward, God's covenant of grace became the covenant of circumcision. The covenant of circumcision means that the covenant of grace cannot be fulfilled or inherited through man's natural strength. If we would inherit God's promise of grace, our natural strength must be circumcised. On God's side, this covenant is a covenant of grace. But on man's side, it has become the covenant of circumcision. God still intends to give grace to man. However, in order to receive God's covenanted grace, we must have our natural strength cut off.
Jacob's circumcision was a sign that he was not supposed to live by his flesh or natural strength. Nevertheless, after his circumcision, Jacob continued striving in the flesh. Although he had been circumcised, he lived as one who had not been circumcised. How much he exercised his strength to inherit God's promise! He used his ability to supplant and to scheme as if he had never been circumcised. Symbolically Jacob had been circumcised; but in reality he was not circumcised until he had been dealt with by God for many years and was in his nineties. For twenty years Jacob was under the hand of Laban, who nearly exhausted Jacob's strength. Eventually, Jacob was forced to leave Laban and return to the land of his father. As he was on the way home, God raised up circumstances to force him to go to Him. Laban was pursuing him, and Esau was awaiting him. Hence, Jacob was in a dilemma, wondering what to do. He seemed to say to himself, "What shall I do? If I go backward, Laban is there. But if I go forward, Esau is there. There is no place to which I can flee." At Peniel he sent away his wives and children and stayed alone to make a deal with God. That night Jacob was so strong in his flesh that he even wrestled with God. The Lord touched Jacob's thigh. That was Jacob's real circumcision. From that time onward, Jacob was lame.
As Jacob was departing this life, he did not have strength even to walk; he could only lie on the bed. As we have seen, Jacob's real circumcision took place when God touched his thigh. Now his lying on the bed was another genuine touch from God. After the first touch, Jacob could no longer walk in a normal way, but now he could not even get out of bed. His natural strength truly had been terminated. Thus, we may consider this as Jacob's third circumcision. At the time of his first circumcision, he was hardly affected at all. After the second circumcision, his thigh was touched and he became lame; however, he could still move. But now at the time of the third circumcision he had no ability to move at all. This was the time for him to trust absolutely in the grace of God. When you cannot do anything, when you are not able to move, and when you have no strength, that is the time for you to trust in God.
Because Jacob had no more trust in himself, he asked Joseph to place his hand under his thigh. This indicated that Jacob recognized that he had no strength to do anything for himself. The only thing he could do was trust in God. His son Joseph, the premier of the leading country on earth, certainly could do something for him. Whatever would be done for him after his death would be done by Joseph. Thus, Jacob asked him to place his hand under his thigh, recognizing by making this request that he had been dealt with by God to the uttermost. Jacob was declaring to the whole universe that he no longer had the strength to do anything for himself. Rather, he could only cleave to God's promise of grace. During his lifetime Jacob had learned one thing: that he could not do anything for himself. All he had done was in vain. Thus, he came to trust in God's promise of grace. To him, that promise was the promise of circumcision, of terminating his natural strength to inherit God's promise.
How vivid and beautiful is this first aspect of Jacob's departure! Here is a man who has learned by experience that it is all a matter of God's grace, not a matter of his doing. He realized that he had been circumcised, that he had been touched by God and was not able to do anything. I repeat, when Jacob was eight days old, he was circumcised. When he was more than ninety years old, he was touched by God and became lame. Now at the age of one hundred forty-seven he was confined to bed, unable to do anything. He surely needed God's grace, which at that time was represented by Joseph and was concentrated in him. Joseph was a type of Christ. Jacob's trust was in God's grace, which is focused in Christ. His confidence was no longer in his thigh. The thigh is the strongest part of our being, for by the strength of our thigh we walk and support ourselves. Jacob's thigh had been circumcised and touched. Because he had been fully terminated, he turned absolutely from his natural strength to God's grace in Christ. Joseph's hand, signifying the hand of God's grace, was not placed upon Jacob's thigh, but under it. This indicates that the strong hand of God's grace bore Jacob for the fulfillment of God's covenant of promise. It was not by Jacob's strength, but by the hand of Joseph, that Jacob was brought to the good land for his actual inheritance. It is not by our strength, but by the grace of Christ that we inherit God's promise.